How we need to walk...

Walk not as others walk- in the vanity of their mind.

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind

Vanity of their mind. This says  much about how so many people choose to live. They believe in their own minds, their own ideas, their own beliefs and allow their vanity to rule them. The belief they have the superior mind ignites that vanity. Their ideas are considerably more lofty than others. The idea that others could truly have better minds than theirs is preposterous. Vanity of the mind truly keeps people from God, because they are not willing to believe there is any one, God included, as wonderful at they are.

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart

Their understanding is DARKENED.  Their ability to understand is cut short by their own vanity. They are alienated, the are cut off from the life of God because of their choice to be ignorant of God. Their hearts are BLIND, their vanity cutting their spiritual sight off!

Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Past feeling, past being able to live as God intended, as God would have us live through the Spirit.  They've chosen lasciviousness- to fulfil their lustful desires, their selfish cravings and to do so with all uncleanness and greediness! Those who choose NOT to walk after God choose a life of self-serving, and even in their seeming selfless pursuits the inward pride and refusal to believe in their Creator spoils all that pretense of selflessness. They believe their power to be selfless comes solely from themselves, not at all from God. They vainly believe they are too superior to believe in God, and their good works, their selfless acts are proof enough God doesn't have to exist because they can do good, selfless acts without Him. Their selflessness is poisoned and they can't even comprehend this. 

This isn't ME making all this up! This isn't ME degrading others specifically pointing fingers.  This is GOD, this is God's word telling us - Walk not as others walk- in the vanity of their mind. And we cannot concern ourselves with who those others are individually, but rather we have to WALK OUR OWN WALK, careful NOT to walk the walk of vanity in our minds but the WALK of the SPIRIT. We can't concern ourselves with walking the walk of the world.

Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;

Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts

We have to put OFF our old selves which walked with the world and if we are NOT putting off the old world we are NOT God's, but deceived. If we are seeking constantly to fulfill our selfish lusts in what ever form they take, if fulfilling those lusts takes precedence in our lives we are walking right along with the world in the vanity of our minds. God sees through any disguise we try to put on, He looks right to our hearts. We need to put off the old unregenerate self, the person we were before accepting Christ- or re-accepting Christ, before we truly desire to live for the LORD and not self. That old self is corrupted by lusts and will constantly seek to reemerge. We must...

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

We must be RENEWED in the SPIRIT of our minds!  This is a clear statement of fact that we must engage our higher power of thinking, acknowledging our need of renewal .  WE must constantly be renewed just as we 'die daily' we are 'born again, renewed' daily.  This is a daily conscious thought to live through the Spirit. We must...

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

We must PUT ON the NEW MAN- created in the righteousness and holiness of GOD!

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

PUT AWAY LYING! Speak TRUTH!

Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath

BE angry - WITHOUT SIN!  Not letting the day end on any wrath we might have.

*******  More on this tomorrow by the grace of  our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!!

All through HIS love!

Amen.

We have to stop lying!

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

How do we grieve the Holy Spirit?  We grieve the Holy Spirit when we choose to ignore His presence in our lives!

The conscience in each of us cries out often, sometimes very loudly, other times in a whisper. That conscience is a guiding force utilized by the Holy Spirit. When we choose to ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit leading us, we grieve the Holy Spirit.

*******

Let's read the verse above in context-

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;

Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

Eph 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Eph 4:29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

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Truly we grieve the Holy Spirit when we purposefully walk contrary to how we KNOW God would have us walk. 

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! YOU KNOW! WE KNOW! I KNOW! We can lie all we want to ourselves, we can pretend we don't know how God would have us live. We can hold onto our cherish little quirks of imperfection, we can cling to our personality defects as if they are a special exempt part of us that excuses us from behaving as our God would have us behave. We can do all that at the peril to our ETERNAL LIFE.

We have to stop the LYING! We do ourselves the gravest of injustices when we choose to lie to ourselves, lying to the point of believing the lies, doubly worse.  We say such things as - 'That's just who I am.'  and, "I can't help it, I was born(raised) this way."  We make excuses for our tendencies shrouded in evil… YES, EVIL! You don't get much more evil than being willing to lie to yourself by using the excuse you just can't help it so you don't NEED to fix anything, it's beyond your power.  OF COURSE YOU CAN'T HELP IT, but darn it, stop lying about it! You do NEED to fix it! And you fix it by letting the HOLY SPIRIT fix it, by YIELDING to the Holy Spirit, by seeking the forgiveness of Jesus Christ our Lord for each and every defect we are conscious of!  We don't make excuses, we seek forgiveness!

Do we ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe if we seek forgiveness for every known sin in our lives that we'd perhaps recognize the sin in our selves more readily and maybe,  that could be the catalyst that would allow us to  yield that sin to Christ? What good is fixing ourselves if we allow no room to be fixed? What good is taking any glory to ourselves for overcoming through ourselves? WE need to overcome through Christ, recognizing it's all through HIS POWER and not through any power of our own beyond yielding, beyond accepting Him, beyond choosing to believe.

Satan would have us despair. Satan wants us to lose hope by realizing our inability to overcome. Satan will tell us we'll never be good enough, that we'll never walk the walk God would have us walk.  He's not lying fully here either, we can do NOTHING on our own to fix ourselves. Any power we have that allows us to overcome is Christ's power, His glory! Satan would have us focus on our sins as entrapments, while Christ would have us focus on our sins as a way to find forgiveness, repentance all through Him.

Having to truly recognize the sins in our lives on a constant basis, the sins that have become what we think are an integral part of us, is to recognize our need. The shame, the guilt, the depression we feel when we admit to our sins are good things, not things to be shunned as Satan wants us to do. Satan WANTS us to call our sins good! Satan wants us to become buddy buddy with our sins, feeling lost without them. Satan is the greatest of deceivers and he will do all he can to keep us from yielding our entire self to Christ.

When you sin, you generally know you've sinned. You feel that twinge of guilt, that recognition that perhaps you didn't quite handle a situation the way you should have. You feel the anger in yourself and feel completely at a loss as how to get rid of it and you recognize the sin as it's taking place and part of you doesn't care because you are so caught up in the power of the sin, the heat of the moment. You add sin to sin and still you can't stop! You cry out for forgiveness, you throw yourself on the mercy of God, you keep seeking forgiveness, never trying to excuse away the sin you are in the throes of committing.  We have to stop covering it all up. 

Paul was a wretched man! We are ALL wretched human beings! Even the ones we believe are closest to God in following His will, they are wretched human beings in need of a SAVIOR, Jesus Christ our LORD!  

How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? In many, many ways and we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit and the only way we are not going to grieve the Holy Spirit is by living in a constant state of surrender to Christ. As we surrender He uplifts us. 

So whenever we are doing anything we know or even suspect might grieve the Holy Spirit we have to seek forgiveness, we have to yield to our Savior, our Forgiver. We only ignore the Spirit convictions at a great risk of hardening our hearts to the point of no longer being able to feel, to recognize any Spirit convictions at all.

Please Father, please bless us in YOU. Help us to yield to You, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit! We don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit! Help us! Keep us! Forgive us!

All through the amazing love of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen.

Are you Spirit led?

Luk_4:1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Rom_8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Led by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will lead us. How do we know the Holy Spirit is leading us? Do we imagine the dove form the Holy Spirit took to light upon Jesus after His baptism guided Him? It's possible, but we do know that the Holy Spirit is not always in the form of a dove. Read this--

Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And it's not always a form at all-

Act 8:39  And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

The Spirit of the Lord CAUGHT away Philip, and we aren't told what form the Spirit took, and we very well could comprehend that no grand form appeared.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We aren't going to feel another being enter our bodies as depicted of angels in various movies, angels in the guise of evil spirits and angels in the form of good spirits- the movies do all sorts of things.  We just aren't going to have that sort of experience of being filled with the Spirit. We can't hold out waiting for that at all.  We can't expect the Spirit in the form of a dove, nor tongues of flames to rest upon us.

We are led by the Spirit of our Lord when we are doing the will of our Father, because on our own we cannot ever do the will of our Father. We must have the Spirit in us to do God's will. We are filled with the Spirit when we are born again in the Spirit, and anything that is of God is of the Spirit. We live in the Spirit.  And we can grieve the Holy Spirit, we can live outside of the Holy Spirit, God forbid that happens to us!

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

How do we grieve the Holy Spirit?  We grieve the Holy Spirit when we choose to ignore His presence in our lives!

The conscience in each of us cries out often, sometimes very loudly, other times in a whisper. That conscience is a guiding force utilized by the Holy Spirit. When we choose to ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit leading us, we grieve the Holy Spirit.

By the grace of our LORD, more on this tomorrow!

All in the love of Jesus Christ!

Amen.

Cursed Tree- Have Faith

Jesus, living with the Spirit upon Him; Jesus, living in the Holy Spirit; Jesus, God in the flesh-  was hungry. He had needs. He couldn't live without eating just as we can't live without eating. Jesus was hungry...

Mar 11:12  And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry

Being hungry, Jesus saw a fig tree far away. Obviously not so far He didn't recognize it for what it was, but not close enough to see details.  And He DIDN'T know upon seeing that tree that it was barren of fruit. Jesus HOPED He'd find figs on the tree. Jesus walked towards the tree, just as WE would walk towards a fig tree hoping there were figs on it so we could satisfy our hunger.  The humanity of Jesus is often overlooked, but it's something we MUST comprehend. No one accused Him of not being a human being, they knew that He had all the same needs and necessities as they did.  Jesus had to be one of us. Jesus had to feel all the things we feel, see the things we see, know the things we know.

Mar 11:13  And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon

Now, the time for figs to be on the tree wasn't yet.  As if we went towards an apple tree hoping to find apples when it wasn't apple season.  Jesus walked towards the fig tree wanting figs when it wasn't time for figs to be on that tree, was He wanting a miracle?  If so, why weren't they miraculously there? We know creating food wasn't an impossibility with Him, so why weren't the figs there? The fact of the matter is, fig trees do not get leaves before they get fruit. The fruit of the fig tree and the leaves grow together. So it is quite possible that Jesus was hoping there would be something edible on the leaf infested fig tree- perhaps if there were immature fruit He would have matured it, but there was no fruit at all.

Mar 11:13…  and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

No figs.  The need for  the figs was there- a desire for figs was there, but there was a bigger picture we have to look at. Jesus had to look at the bigger picture as well. There was something more at stake here that wasn't instantly apparent.

You know how we often need things- such as food, but it doesn't happen? Does that make us any less hungry just because the need isn't going to be met? No.  Was Jesus still hungry?  Yes. His hunger didn't disappear miraculously. Jesus' hunger remained. 

What did Jesus do to that fig tree- whose only fault was not producing?

Mar 11:14  And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Jesus spoke to the tree-  No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.

The tree did NOT give fruit to the hungry, Jesus. Was Jesus mad? It's possible, but more likely He was disappointed. This was a learning experience, as much of Jesus' life in the three years of His ministry was all about- teaching of the kingdom of God to come.

The next morning Jesus was returning from the temple…

Mar 11:20  And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

Mar 11:21  And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

The tree was DEAD. Overnight the tree that had great life left in it- a tremendous amount of leaves- obviously not at all dying by appearance, but defective in producing no fruit, this tree was a withered husk.  Jesus cursed the tree and the tree died.

Mar 11:22  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

Mar 11:23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mar 11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Mar 11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Have faith.

The tree Jesus cursed is dead and Jesus tells His disciples to have faith. Not only to have faith, but powerful faith, a faith that has results.  And when we pray through that faith, we must forgive all others, so God will forgive us.  It's all connected.

Jesus wants His disciples to have faith, a working faith just as Jesus wanted the tree to have fruit.   Truly if WE do not have a working faith we- like that tree are cursed.  

A real faith, a working faith. 

Yes, the analogy of being fruitful spiritually is a real one as well. The truth that appearances are deceiving is true. There are a lot of truths here, a lot, and through the Spirit they can be discerned.  Please, Father, help us through the SPIRIT to understand all we need to understand.  We would have fruitful FAITH! We don't want to be like that fruitless fig tree! We need the Spirit in us to help us in this, please!  Help us also to forgive. It's so easy to forget to forgive. It's so easy to take the smallest of slights and hold onto them letting them fuel our resentment when the truth is, we need to forgive those slights, all of them! We need to forgive, help us to forgive!  Help us to be YOURS in all things!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our LORD!  Amen!

Holy Spirit, as You were upon the Savior, be upon us!

The HOLY SPIRIT one in agreement with the LORD GOD, one in agreement with our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.   The HOLY SPIRIT- an INDIVIDUAL GOD.

Do you doubt the Holy Spirit is an individual God in His own right?

Act 5:3  But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to LIE TO the HOLY GHOST, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Act 5:4  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not LIED UNTO men, but unto GOD.

When Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit- he lied to GOD.

The HOLY SPIRIT IS A GOD.  And He is separate from God the Father and God the Son.  We have THREE GODS who AGREE in one.

The Holy Spirit of the Father GOD, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Holy Spirit a Comforter, a convicting power, a teacher. This Holy Spirit reflects perfectly the will of the Father and the Son, and it's own, which are the same will.  Just like we can have the same will of another person- in agreement.  We can agree the same.  They- God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit- all agree the same in ALL things. This is where us humans falter- we can't agree the same in ALL things because we are selfish, self-centered, self-focused and this stops us from agreeing in all things with another, as a rule.  We call people who agree in all ways with someone spineless. The husband who will agree with his wife in all things is called 'under her thumb'. The wife who will agree with her husband in all things  is called meek, mousy, subservient and all in derogatory manners. For us humans to agree on the same things it takes so incredibly much. We've lived on this earth for a long time and in the thousands of years of our civilizations we've yet to figure out how to agree on things so that all of us get along with each other. Our wills are different and we commend their differences rather than try to unite them. We do that with good reason though, mankind's will are not God's will and subject to many, many flaws.

The Spirit of the LORD GOD was upon the SON-

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn

Luk 4:14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

The Spirit, the Holy Spirit can choose to give power, to teach, to convict, to reprimand, to help others.  The Holy Spirit was sent to US by Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit was sent to Jesus by the Father God. The Holy Spirit agrees to utilized by those He is in agreement with. The Holy Spirit agrees to live in us because the Son sacrificed Himself, and would have us be with them, one in agreement with them!

Please, Holy Spirit, as you were upon our Savior, be upon us!

By the love- the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, please be upon us undeserving ones.

Amen.

The Reality of the Spirit

The Spirit of the Father upon the Son.

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

Isa 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Isa 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

Isa 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Christ - is the BRANCH - Mat 1:6-16

The Spirit of the Father would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of wisdom would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of understanding would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of counsel would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of might would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of knowledge would rest upon the BRANCH.

The Spirit of the Fear of the LORD would rest upon the BRANCH.

Jesus LIVED IN THE SPIRIT, just as we are to live in the SPIRIT.

The SPIRIT gave the Savior His power!   The Spirit brought so much to Him, everything to Him really.  And we need this Spirit power, we need to live in the Spirit. WE need a FORCE outside of ourselves to live in us, to act in us, to work in us, to be in us. We have to acknowledge that there is a force, that there is the SPIRIT a living, breathing, real, intelligent, loving, creative entity, a BEING that will live in us if we allow, if we choose.

Jesus recognizes the Spirit.

God recognizes the Spirit.

The reality of the Spirit.

Living through the Spirit is truth, is life, as Jesus lived through the Spirit, and then sent the Spirit to us!

Holy Spirit.

The SAME Holy Spirit that INTERACTED with our SAVIOR, interacts with US!

Joh_14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever

Joh_14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Joh_15:26  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

Joh_16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

We desperately need the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to abide with us for ever.  We are to walk (live) in the Spirit. We are to seek the Spirit. We are to deny our flesh nature and nurture the Spirit nature in us. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. The Holy Spirit will bring all things to our remembrance- the things of our Savior. They Holy Spirit will testify of our Savior. The Holy Spirit is REAL.

We pray to the Father, through the Son, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us- this is truth!

Rom_8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in groanings which can't even be spoken, praying for us, interceding for us because we often truly do NOT know what we should pray for, not really.

The Holy Spirit is real!  We must believe, because it is through faith it is all real.

Some might say faith means it's not real because you can't see, touch, etc. But there are just too many things in life that we can't see, touch etc  that are real for us to use that as proof.

We must believe .

Please Father, let the Holy Spirit live in us! The very same Spirit that brought you to life in the flesh, the same Spirit that took on the form of a dove when You were baptized. The Spirit that visited the apostles. The Spirit that we need so desperately to be in us. Bless us and keep us in the Spirit, not because we deserve it in any way at all, but because we don't deserve it and know we need the Spirit by Your grace and mercy!

Bless us, Lord, through the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Amen!